Encounter
by Jays Arravan
Summary: A Corite summoner survives the massacre of her company. Her savior is one she did not expect.


**Good day to you all.**

**This is a story I made and posted on the official boards of RF Online Philippines. I made this when I was still playing the game every day of the week. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: ****The following is a work of fiction using elements not belonging to the author. All such elements belong to their respective owners. Any similarities in the story with places, persons, events, and/or other stories by other authors, either living or dead, are purely coincidental.**

~~//\\~~

Pain…

…she was in pain.

This was nothing new to her. She had been in pain for most of her life. All those years of it had made her somewhat numb to the sensation. She had gotten use to it. Her god, in all his wisdom, had decreed that it would be her constant companion. It was her purpose in the Great Equation of the God of Numbers to be in pain; who was she to contest his grand design?

Still, she wished she wasn't in pain at that moment.

It had been a dark, cloudy day. She and her company were returning from a routine patrol and were passing through a path near the shore. All of a sudden, they were set upon by Abominations. They appeared out of nowhere from the shore cliffs above and from beneath the waves to their side, their optics casting ghostly lights upon them.

Fully half of her company was felled before they could reach for their weapons, turned to dust before her eyes. Two were cut down with one stroke of the enemy's axe. The two champions in her group tried to retaliate, but were struck down from behind. Those who were left tried to flee, but they were set upon by the enemies hidden from their view. A blast shattered her staff and threw her into the cliff wall where they had been pinned down on, causing blood to flow from her forehead.

She was weakened. She had spent all her spiritual energy trying to push back the enemy with her now fallen company, and now she could not summon any of her god's angels to assist her. Worse, all her remedies were destroyed by the blast, taking away her only option for recovery. Blood was flowing freely from her forehead, and her vision was blurring.

She could hear the Abominations walking towards her. The ground shook with their every step. Through the dust of the battle, they emerged. They stood tall over, the light from their eyes shining down on her. They looked like a pack of hungry predators ready to devour their helpless, wounded prey.

Slowly she stood up. She would not give them the pleasure of striking her while she was down. She will die on her feet, an honorable end for one of His children, a daughter of the dark force, and one of the chosen. One of the Abominations stepped forward and lowered its massive weapon, the same one that turned her fellows into dust in a single shining second, at her. She looked down at the growing ball of energy, knowing full well that soon her body too will turn to dust.

She closed her eyes and prepared to consign her soul to her god.

There was no blinding light, nor searing pain. Her body did not burn, nor did her spirit leave to meet her maker. There was no sound of flowing rivers and singing birds just as she was taught there would be. Instead, there was only the sound of metal against metal and a roar that came from no living creature.

She opened her eyes and, instead of the gaze of Abominations, saw the false body of a Heretic; her executioner lying beneath its feet. The Heretic stepped forward, placing itself between her and those monsters of iron. She was surprised and confused. Why was this Heretic saving her?

The other Abominations charged at the Heretic, their weapons raised high over their heads. The false body raised its right arm. A hail of laser fire erupted from it, taking down the charging machines. The others returned fire, but the Heretic stood its ground, not flinching even as bullet and laser fire impacted upon its body. One enemy got through his wall of fire. The Abomination raised its weapon to strike, but the false body raised its left arm and sliced the machine into half with laser fire.

Those that remained brought their most powerful of guns to bear, took aim and fired. Missiles flew straight for the false body, but still it stood its ground. Moving its gun arms slowly, it fired at the incoming projectiles one by one until on remained. This was already too close and impacted upon the metal torso.

A giant cloud of dust erupted as the shot hit, and she herself thought the Heretic was destroyed. So she was surprised when a barrage of small missiles shot from the dust cloud and destroyed the enemy's weapons. With a loud roar the false body shot from the cloud, landing in front of the remaining enemies and dispatched them with point blank fire.

Suddenly everything was still. The dust settled around her, revealing to her the remains of her beloved comrades, the empty shells of the Abominations that slew them and the false body of the Heretic that saved her. The ground shook as the false body turned and walked towards her. Around them, rain began to fall. The Heretic stopped a few feet from and crouched down. She looked up and saw her reflection in its false eye.

Whether it was from shock or from exhaustion, her legs finally gave way and she fell to the ground and into oblivion.

She woke up to the feeling of wind upon her face. It smelled of the sea, her favorite place. Soon she was hearing the sound of the crashing waves in the distance. She opened her eyes, thinking she was finally in the paradise promised to her people. Instead, she saw the childlike form of the Heretic looking over her.

She tried to move but the pain would not allow her. She tried to ignore it but was stopped when the Heretic placed a firm yet gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked upon his face and saw that it bore no hint of emotion whatsoever. This unnerved her and she settled back down. She knew immediately what had happened. She had been captured.

He looked over her for a moment more before walking out of her field of vision. With sleep and surprise finally wearing off she was able look at her surroundings. She was in a small cave by the sea. She could hear the storm rage outside and see it out from the mouth of the cave. She was sitting against a small rock at the very back of the cave. The cave was dry for the most part, save for some water dripping from the roof close to the entrance.  
She looked over her body and saw that her wounds had been tended to, which surprised her quite a bit. Gauze was wrapped around her arm, side and leg. She could also feel another bandage wrapped around her forehead. Keeping the cave lit and warm was a large, roaring fire and behind it hung…

…her clothes?

A few more moments later it had dawned to her that she was clad only in her undergarments. A thin, sleeveless shirt covered her chest, but it still showed ample bosom and did not cover her belly. Matching white lingerie covered her most delicate of parts and revealed her long, slender, pale legs.

The soft patter of footstep heralded the return of the Heretic. She covered herself the best she could and looked upon him with murder in her eyes, red with anger and embarrassment at being so exposed to her enemy. The Heretic looked back at her, his cold gaze unchanged, and placed the items he was carrying on a nearby rock. He then took what looked like a container from his waist and knelt beside her. This made her curl tighter to cover her body.  
The Heretic unscrewed the top of the container and brought it in front of her, as if he wanted her to drink from it. She turned away, not trusting him to give her anything good. At her reaction he drew back. They looked at each other for a moment. The Heretic then lifted the container to his lips and took a few sips. He kept looking at her as he did this, as if showing that it was not poison. Again he offered the container to her. At first she was hesitant, but the dryness in her throat pushed her into taking it and placed it to her lips.

Water had never tasted sweeter.

Whether it was from her thirst or the container being small to begin with, she finished the contents in a short time. She gave it back to him, who only nodded as he returned the container to his belt. He returned to the items he brought with him and took a metal box. He went back to where he sat beside her and opened it, revealing a few bottles of liquid and some bandages.

With great care he began to clean her wounds and replace the bandages. Her eyes never left him as he did this. She was confused as to why the Heretic was showing her such kindness as to tend to her wounds; his deft hands gliding over her body as he cleaned and dressed them.

She looked over her captor/savior. He looked liked any male of his kind at their prime. His hair was, at first glance, black, but as the fire light hit it she saw it to be dark brown. His hair fell over his eyes, but as he moved she caught glimpses of it. Emotionless as they were, his eyes held great intensity and purpose. She found herself somewhat drawn into them. They were quite…

She stopped herself from going any further in her thoughts. She could not believe she was thinking of her enemy in such a way.

He soon finished tending to her and draped what looked like a blanket over her shoulders. It was smaller than the once she was used to, seeing that it was meant to be used by his people. She accepted it anyway. At least she wasn't as exposed anymore.

He looked over her one more time. Seeing no more wounds to tend to, he cleaned up his supplies and took a seat against the cave wall opposite her. Both were quiet. He was silently tapping at something on his wrist, a communications device she surmised. He was working on it for a while before turning it off and looking outside their shelter. Her intuition told her that he could not contact his comrades because of the weather. It made her somewhat relieved. If worse comes to worse, at least she wouldn't be outnumbered.

Silence fell between the two. She found herself staring into the fire of their cavernous shelter. Her body was still a bit sore, but she felt much better than before. The blanket he had given her was only enough to cover her torso, but was warm and comfortable, nonetheless. At the back of her mind, thoughts of her fate in her enemy's hands began to form, causing her stomach to knot. She tried to push them down; she didn't need to be afraid as her god was with her. Still, it would be nice to have a way out.

She heard a sound from the direction of the Heretic and turned to her captor. To her surprise, she found her captor sound asleep.

She did not know whether to laugh at the situation, or wake him up and scold him captor for being so reckless as to fall asleep right in front of his unbound prisoner.

That was when realization hit her.

She was unbound and her captor was asleep. His weapon was exposed to her. If she could get closer without waking him, she could take the weapon and do away with an enemy of the Corite people. Slowly, she crawled on all fours towards the sleeping form. She was slow and cautious, making sure not even the smallest of pebbles made a sound. Finally she was over him. Slowly she reached out for the clasp of the holster in his chest. Just a few seconds more and she could vanquish the Heretic.

She touched the material, and then pulled back. There was a voice at the back of her head, telling her that what she was about to do was wrong. An enemy he may be, nevertheless, he saved her from those Abominations and then tended to her wounds. Even when she was exposed to him he made no move to violate her. He had shown her kindness, something that virtually never existed between enemies, and now she was going to repay that kindness with dishonor and kill him in his sleep.

Such cowardly ways were below Decem's chosen.

Slowly she drew back and sat beside him, quietly watching him as he slept. For the first time in her life she felt peace, something she had been searching for a long time. How ironic she would find it in the company of her enemy. Taking the blanket form her shoulders, she placed it across him and herself. She looked at him one last time and closed her eyes.

They would still have their war tomorrow...

...but tonight...

...let there be peace.


End file.
